I Could Have Never Let You Go
by Burning Fate
Summary: James and Wrex go searching for survivers after the reaper attack and end up finding someone who they never would have thought to survive.


"_You have two options. You may destroy the reapers, or you can control them."_

"_I saw what happened to the Illusive Man." _

"_Yes, but there was no way that he could have controlled us because we already controlled him."_

"_Oh…"_

"_And you have a third option. Synthesis." _

"_What?"_

"_All organic and technology will be combined as one. It will end the life cycle, the DNA."_

"_So….If I destroy the reapers, then nobody has to worry about them. If I control them, then there's a chance that someone will override them and send them back to their destructive nature. But synthesis…..it would combine the reapers with humans. And if it ends the life cycle, then after everyone dies, the universe will be….nothing."_

"_The paths are open. But you must choose." Shepard limped straight ahead with her pistol dripping with her blood in her hand. She stopped in the middle of the walkway to observe her choices. _

'_I will not be power hungry. I will not make humans machines. So that's my choice.' Shepard thought to herself. She dragged her more then wounded leg up the path leading to the destruction module. _

'_There's no turning back. This is for Earth. And the galaxy.' Shepard raised her gun and fired as she limped forward. _

'_Think of everyone who's counting on you! You're friends, citizens, and the whole world!' Shepard raised her gun higher and stood on her legs as if she wasn't injured at all._

"_Ngh!" She grunted, then walked closer, as she fired her gun, to the machine that would destroy the reapers once and for all. The crucible boy had disappeared into thin air._

'_Liara,' she thought, seeing images of her friends flash before her eyes, 'Garrus….Joker….Kaiden.' the module started to explode. '….James…' BAM! She walked right into the explosion. A flash of light and energy pulsed through the center of the Citadel. The whole machine turned red, right down to the core, and then fired a massive shield of destruction. The wave had destroyed every reaper in space. Down in London, soldiers still fired at the huge robotic aliens, everyone of them fearing for their lives. Then came the red light, pulsing through London, destroying everything in its path. Big Ben was the first to go down. It had basically just been turned into ashes. Then as a reaper drone jumped out of the sky and began to charge its rays, the red light caught its eye. It turned and the reaper drone saw the reapers behind it fall to the ground, all paralyzed with a shocking pulse of red lightning. The soldiers looked in amazement and some were even scared of the red light. They ducked down under piles of rubble as the last reaper drone had fallen. The ground shook and two soldiers stood up from behind the alliance mako. They walked in front of the other soldiers and mako's and looked around. _

"_My god. Commander Shepard did it!" One screamed. All of the soldiers cheered and cried as they raised their guns to the skies. But little did they know that the Mass Effect Relays were about to be no more. The red pulse reached back out into space and hit the nearest relays. The light's energy, Shepard's energy, was absorbed into its center. It spinned out of control then stopped for a brief second before it fired and the relay blew up. The same process repeated for every other relay in the galaxy, and the Normandy was caught in the impacts. Joker rapidly typed away, ignited turbo boosts, tried to do everything he could to make the ship go faster. A black hole formed from behind and the Normandy was being sucked in. Turbulence made Joker jump and lose balance in his seat. The engines of the Normandy had been snapped off by the black hole's power, and the whole ship was consumed by the darkness. The Normandy had crash landed on a washed up island out in the middle of nowhere. The automatic door to the airlock opened and Joker walked out, shielding his eyes from the sun with his arm. He jumped to the ground and walked near the edge of the small cliff that they had landed on. Shortly after, Garrus walked out, soon to be followed by James. The crew had survived, but they were terribly lost. Back in London, buildings continued to fall apart, alliance soldiers searched for bodies and survivors. Pieces of debris fell from the sky and crashed to the ground; fire marked every place on the map; there were more bodies then there were survivors by a long shot; a shimmer of light appeared in the rubble of a broken Citadel. Parts and pieces of metals and bodies were compacted around a bruised, bloody, near death Shepard. She laid on the rubble; eyes closed, then she gasped for air. _

"What the…..what the hell?" She whispered to herself darting her eyes back and forth. Out of her sight, she could hear the voice of a familiar krogan.

"Take to the left, Lieutenant." He gruffly ordered.

"Sure thing, Loco."

'James!' Shepard thought. His footsteps moved farther and farther away from her.

"N-No. I'm….here." She tried to yell, but instead came out as a whisper.

"I don't see anyone." She heard him say.

"No. But I smell somethin'. There's so much damn blood around here though. But this is….different."

"Wrex…." She whispered.

"Come on. I hear that there's a bunch of survivors to the west of the camp." Wrex said before he started to walk off.

'No! Wrex! James!' Shepard thought. She felt around for something. Her hand went over what seemed to be a rock. She picked it up and started slamming it down onto the metal plate by her face. Wrex stopped in his tracks and James bumped into him.

"What is it?" James asked.

"You don't hear that?" Wrex asked before running back to the pile of rubble.

"Someone's in there!" He yelled to James. Wrex put down his gun and started to move pieces of scrap metal and burnt bodies away from the sound. Crumbs of rock and ashes fell onto Shepard's face. Shimmers of light shined on her bloody arm.

"Shepard! We found Shepard!" Wrex yelled after moving a large piece of bloody concrete to see her face.

"Wrex…" She whispered. She released the rock. Wrex dug up her legs and the rest of her body.

"Are you alright, Shepard?" He asked as he knelt over her.

"….I-. Ngh!" She yelped.

"Lola! Don't try to talk alright? Damn, you look horrible!" James said worriedly. Shepard managed to chuckle.

"Thanks Vega. That's what every woman likes to hear." Wrex slid his hands under her shoulders and knees.

"We're taking you home, Shepard. Hang in there." He said picking her up.

"Ah!" She yelled, feeling her bones aching and muscles ripping inside of her.

"Will medi gel help?" James asked pulling out his omni tool.

"It's gonna take a lot more than that to get her up and running again. But maybe it will help, just until we get back to the camp that is." James rubbed his hand over Shepard's wounds, spreading the healing gel over every cut and bruise.

"Ngh. Thanks Vega." Shepard smiled. At the camp grounds, Cortez was being patched up and wrapped.

"Gah!" He yelled, closing his eyes and baring his teeth.

"Calm yourself Lieutenant." Doctor Chakwas said as she continued to bandage his arm.

"Damn reapers."

"They're gone now. That is….thanks to Shepard." Dr. Chakwas laid her forehead on the palm of her hand.

"Yeah. The Commander. She helped me out a lot…"

"She was like a daughter to me." Dr. Chakwas cried. A soldier ran past her and Cortez, holding his Bluetooth radio device in his ear.

"Alpha team 365 has found the Commander! Alpha team 365 has found the Commander!" Dr. Chakwas and Cortez could not believe what they had heard.

"We need a medic! And medi gel, lots of it!" Wrex yelled, running into the camp with a limp Shepard in his arms.

"Chakwas!" James yelled. "We need you. Please, help her." He begged.

"You don't even have to ask. Take her to the comm room! That's the only secure place we have to operate at!" As Chakwas ran to the room with Wrex and James, all of the alliance soldiers contacted the other teams that were closely bonded with Shepard to come back to the camp. At the northeastern camp, Grunt and Jack had heard the message.

"Damn. The girl scout made it." Jack said with a smile of disbelief.

"Of course she did! Not even death can take down my Battle Master!" Grunt cheered.

"Calm down, Toad. They say she isn't doing to well."

"What?" Grunt turned to Jack and grabbed his guns. "Get your team and follow me!" He yelled as he started running towards the eastern camp.

"Kids! Come on!" Jack yelled back as she followed after Grunt. Back at the eastern camp, Wrex had laid Shepard down on a table.

"Mr. Vega, I need you to go get all of the medi gel you can and bring it back to me." Chakwas ordered.

"Yes ma'am!" He yelled and ran outside.

"Wrex, help me clean off all of this blood. I need to get a good view of her injuries." Chakwas rummaged through a small cabinet and found bottles of water and towels.

"I've got the medi gel!" James yelled running back in with his arms full of the supply.

"Set them down! I need room, so everyone will have to leave for now." Chakwas said. James looked at Shepard one last time before being dragged away by Wrex. James stood outside of the door and put his arms behind his neck.

"Come on Shep. You can make it through this." He thought out loud to himself. Then a heavy hand fell on his shoulder.

"Don't worry kid. She's been through worse." Wrex said.

"What the hell could be worse than this?" James asked.

"You don't wanna know." After hours of waiting outside the automatic door, James heard it open. He looked up to see Dr. Chakwas walking towards him. He stood.

"If you want to see her, she's in there."

"Thank you." James said before running into the room. Shepard was laid out on the table with towels cushioning her head and arms. James stopped and stared as his body filled with excitement just by seeing her breathe. Shepard barely opened her eyes and moaned.

"J-…..Jam….es…" She whispered, her voice weak and crackling. James ran to her side and threw an arm over her. He bared his teeth and started to cry.

"Kate! T-Thank god you're alive! I was so worried!" He said falling to his knees. Shepard reached her hand out and rubbed his head. He looked up at her with tear stained cheeks.

"Thank you….James….For…not giving up on me…" She said stroking his cheek. He held her hand and snuggled into it.

"I could have never left you there Shepard." He stood up and gently kissed her on the lips. "I love you to much to have let you go like that."


End file.
